NGOisation in Exile: Necessity, Professionalisation, and Subjective Space in the Case of Syrian Women Activists in Berlin

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This article aims to analyse the dynamics of NGOisation in the context of women’s mobilisation in exile. It focuses on Syrian women activists who were displaced to Berlin after 2011 as a result of the Syrian conflict. Based on twenty-two semi-structured interviews that were carried out and participant observations, the article analyses the professionalisation dynamics of mobilisation on both the individual and institutional levels, aiming to understand how this professionalisation may be impacting the work of women activists, while examining the functions it may be playing for Syrian activists and for the movement in general. The paper illustrates how the phenomenon of NGOisation plays a different, more complex role in the context of exile, by impeding the activist’s complete disengagement from the Syrian context. Through different types of activities such as advocacy, research, and service provision, NGOisation allows activists to remain part of the mobilisation for the rights of the Syrian people while providing them with a space for solidarity and support through their subjective and emotional engagements with other Syrian women.